Nowadays, 51% of Americans prefer to shop online rather than in stores, a determine that jumps to 67% for Millennials and 56% for Gen-Xers. But, analysis exhibits 46% of small businesses don’t have a website.
This disconnect between what buyers need and what retailers are literally delivering is much more startling once you have a look at the precise numbers: Information gathered by the Nationwide Retail Federation current client survey discovered that 108.5 million people shopped Black Friday deals online final yr, whereas 99 million shopped in-store.
Extra folks than ever are purchasing on-line than they're in bodily shops. And in keeping with some consultants, online sales will increase from $335 billion in 2015 to $523 billion in 2020, an increase of 9.32% per yr, though the present annual development fee is definitely 14%.
Give it some thought – what did you final buy and the place? Me? I simply purchased a espresso. However earlier at this time I in contrast costs on-line for a bag I’ve had my eye on for some time as I ate breakfast in my kitchen Apparently, stats present 43% of online shoppers have made a purchase while in bed, and 23% of internet buyers have made a web based buy on the workplace. We love the comfort of purchasing once we need and the place we wish.
This rising demand for ultra-convenience is pushing for eCommerce corporations to innovate and ship more and more highly effective options to their platforms, whereas retailers are additionally anticipated to maintain up, and even anticipate, on-line purchasing traits – as a result of in the event that they don’t, their opponents will.
So on this eCommerce information, we’ll check out the eCommerce platforms dominating 2017 and in addition break down the traits we’re seeing this yr as Cyber November and the vacation purchasing season quick approaches.
The highest four eCommerce platforms in contrast
Retailers are spoilt for selection with regards to discovering and implementing an eCommerce resolution. There are such a lot of choices now accessible which might be simple for non-technical folks to setup – the one arduous half is selecting the best platform.
Retaining in thoughts on-line purchasing traits (which you'll learn extra about additional down on this article) and the wants of various sorts of on-line shops, from artists promoting one-off digital prints to established shops promoting bodily items, listed below are the highest four eCommerce platforms in 2017.
Magento
First launched in 2008, Magento is an open eCommerce platform now owned by the eBay group. With the most important slice of the market share at 29.1%, Magento handles $100 billion in gross merchandise quantity yearly.
Execs:
- Massively versatile. With a neighborhood of greater than 150,000 builders, the core Magento software program will be prolonged with add-ons and integrations for transport, advertising and marketing, safety, social media integration and extra.
- Function-rich. Magento’s neighborhood model lets you handle a number of storefronts, a number of location, a number of currencies and a number of languages with a user-friendly UI.
- Free neighborhood model. The neighborhood model is free for small to medium sized companies.
- Useful neighborhood. Magento has a massive neighborhood of customers and builders.
Cons:
- Tough and time consuming to customise. There’s a steep studying curve that comes with utilizing Magento. Whereas it’s vastly customizable, non-technical customers will seemingly need assistance from a developer.
- Costly for small companies. The neighborhood model if free, however the enterprise model begins at $18,000.
- Internet hosting is just not included. Internet hosting and setup shall be further prices.
Worth:
Magento Group (CE) is free to obtain and use for small-medium measurement companies. Magento Enterprise (EE) is $18,000 per yr for giant companies. Extensions and add-ons for each variations value further, as does internet hosting for the CE model.
Greatest suited to:
Many well-liked manufacturers like Burger King, Huawei, and Liverpool F.C. use Magento for its reliability and scalability. The platform is taken into account the very best eCommerce platform for enterprise degree on-line shops.
WooCommerce
WooCommerce, a plugin for WordPress, is one other well-liked open supply eCommerce resolution. Launched in 2011, it was acquired by Automattic, the corporate behind WordPress.com, and a core contributor to the WordPress software program. It holds 26.5% market share and powers 380,000 on-line shops, whereas the WordPress platform is used by 28.5% of all websites.
Execs:
- It’s free to obtain and use.
- WooCommerce is recurrently audited by Sucuri, an business chief in safety.
- You'll be able to promote something from bodily merchandise and digital downloads to subscriptions, content material and even appointments.
- It has fewer administration prices in comparison with Magento and PrestaShop.
- It’s designed to work with any WordPress theme, of which there are hundreds accessible.
- Since WooCommerce is open supply, you'll be able to modify and customise something and every thing.
- There are greater than 400 official extensions for WooCommerce for every thing from funds and transport to advertising and marketing, accounting, and analytics.
- Because it’s constructed on WordPress, you'll be able to leverage its customizable running a blog instruments for content material advertising and marketing and construct your model.
Cons
- The extra extensions you add to your retailer, the extra you’ll be paying every month in licensing charges.
- You’ll must maintain internet hosting and establishing your web site your self earlier than you'll be able to set up the WooCommerce plugin.
- Fundamental customizations are pretty simple, however if you wish to change the appear and feel of your retailer, you would possibly discover it troublesome when you’re not comfy utilizing WordPress.
- You'll be able to’t use WooCommerce with out WordPress.
Worth:
The WooCommerce plugin is free to obtain and use. Internet hosting, extensions, and add-ons value further.
Greatest suited to:
Web sites which might be already utilizing WordPress. In case your web site runs on WordPress, it’s simple to put in the WooCommerce plugin and get began immediately, whether or not you need to run a small store or massive retailer with many merchandise.
Shopify
Based in 2004, Shopify was initially primarily based on software program written by its founders for his or her on-line snowboard retailer. The vastly well-liked eCommerce platform now holds 10.5% market share, powers 500,000 on-line shops and handles a complete gross merchandise quantity exceeding $40 billion.
Execs:
- There are extra 100+ retailer templates to select from and when you don’t like every of the templates, you'll be able to customise your retailer’s HTML and CSS, use the built-in web site builder, or work with a “Shopify Knowledgeable” to customise your retailer from the bottom up.
- Shopify comes with free internet hosting and SSL certificates. All pages, content material, bank card, and transaction info is protected by the identical degree of safety utilized by banks.
- There are 70 fee gateways and bank cards are accepted. The platform integrates with all the favored gateways, like PayPal and Stripe, and even bitcoin. Plus, you'll be able to settle for Visa, Mastercard, Uncover, and American Categorical.
Cons:
- Shopify makes use of its personal templating language Liquid reasonably than PHP, so making customization will be difficult for non-technical customers.
- The content material advertising and marketing choices are fundamental. Whereas Shopify does present a running a blog platform, it doesn’t maintain a candle to WordPress.
Worth:
The Fundamental Shopify package deal is $29, the Shopify package deal is $79, and the Superior Shopify packages is $299. Plus there are further charges for bank card transactions.
Greatest suited to:
In case your major aim is to stand up and operating as shortly as doable, then a totally hosted platform like Shopify is for you. Greatest suited to small and medium companies.
PrestaShop
PrestaShop began out as an open supply scholar undertaking in Paris in 2005. It now powers 250,000 on-line shops, with 9% market share. Based on W3Techs, PrestaShop is utilized by zero.5% of all web sites. It’s simple to setup and configure, and is out there both as a fully-hosted resolution within the Prestashop cloud, or self-hosted, supplying you with full technical management of your on-line retailer. Each choices are free.
Execs:
- It’s simple to put in and customise (particularly in comparison with Magento and WooCommerce) and features a user-friendly dashboard that offers you a fast overview of your retailer’s stats.
- It comes with a “Stay Configurator” that lets you simply customise fonts and colours.
- It’s accessible in 40 languages.
- There are a whole bunch of PrestaShop add-ons and modules that may prolong the core software program, together with fee and transport, safety, search engine marketing, social media, and analytics.
Cons:
- The default PrestaShop theme comes with few customizations.
- You’ll want to purchase templates, themes, add-ons, and modules if you wish to customise, prolong and construct out your on-line retailer, which will be expensive.
- Help is a paid add-on. When you need assistance establishing your retailer or diagnosing technical points, you’ll must both pay for help (the fundamental Help Straightforward Plan prices $279.99 a month) or attempt your luck within the PrestaShop boards.
Worth:
PrestaShop is free to obtain and use. Internet hosting, extensions, and add-ons value further.
Greatest suited to:
Like WooCommerce, establishing PrestaShop includes some technical know-how, particularly when you select the self-hosted model. It’s finest suited to small or medium companies that require a number of languages.
2017 eCommerce business traits
Whereas the variety of folks purchasing on-line is rising annually, with 30% of Individuals purchasing on-line a minimum of weekly, rising a web based enterprise continues to be a troublesome job, even for knowledgeable retailers. Merely launching a retailer is hoping for the very best isn’t sufficient – probably the most profitable retailers are strategic and focused of their efforts.
So let’s check out the traits and vital developments in eCommerce this yr that corporations must benefit from to make sure gross sales development.
The rise of cellular
Final yr, Google search queries for merchandise on cellular surpassed desktop searches for the primary time. What does that imply? It means when you’re not implementing a “cellular first” method to your retailer’s purchasing expertise, potential prospects who've a tough time utilizing your website will store elsewhere. Cellular-first implies that your technique primarily revolves across the expertise of cellular customers.
Simply as buyers like to purchase in mattress, 20% of American internet buyers have bought from the toilet or whereas within the automotive. How are they doing that? With their cellphones (or tablets, too).
As these figures recommend, retailers want to totally embrace the actual fact shoppers need to store on-line utilizing completely different units which might be handy for them.
However it’s extra than simply having a responsive web site. Many massive corporations are blurring the traces between their bodily and on-line shops and cellular is taking part in a giant half as these examples present:
- The Walgreens app permits customers to resume prescriptions by scanning merchandise. On high of that, the app modifications when prospects are close to a cease after which once more when they're inside it, providing unique offers and options.
- L’Oréal Paris has designed diagnostic instruments for skincare, cosmetics, haircare, and hair colour to be used on mobiles that permit shoppers to “attempt on” completely different shades of make-up and “scan” their hair colour. Not solely is that this handy for potential prospects to mess around with, nevertheless it gives the corporate with invaluable buyer knowledge for personalised interactions.
Conversational commerce
Conversational commerce is a current time period coined by former Uber developer expertise lead Chris Messina. It refers back to the intersection of messaging apps and purchasing, extra particularly the development towards interacting with companies by way of messaging and chat apps like Fb Messenger, WhatsApp, Speak, and WeChat, in addition to voice know-how, like Amazon’s Echo.
With conversational commerce, shoppers can discuss to chatbots, actual folks, or a mix of each in messaging apps, very like you'll with any individual in your contact listing, to ask questions on a product, get personalised suggestions, and even purchase instantly within the app.
For companies, conversational commerce automates customer support and help, permitting for interplay in real-time, which is vastly handy for shoppers who need speedy assist once they want it.
Stay chat
Stay chat can be changing into an more and more well-liked eCommerce software for companies that need to present the closest factor on-line to a store flooring expertise. Stay chat is speedy and actual folks reply your questions in real-time when you’re shopping on-line.
Based on Shopify, customers who use live chat are three times more likely to grow to be return buyers and have 48% bigger order sizes. Forrester Research has additionally discovered that 44% of on-line shoppers say that having questions answered by a reside individual whereas in the course of a web based buy is without doubt one of the most vital includes a web site can supply.
So it’s no shock that out of doors clothes firm The North Face skilled a 33% bounce in conversions when it added live chat to its site and staffed a devoted chat staff.
Social commerce isn’t slowing down
Social commerce is about constructing a relationship with prospects reasonably than advertising and marketing or promoting a services or products. Basically, it’s about influencing shoppers – utilizing social networks to seek out, join with, perceive, and develop significant relationships with potential prospects that maintain your model entrance of thoughts so once they’re prepared to purchase, you’ll be the primary level of contact.
According to one study, social media influences shopping for determination of about 74% internet buyers. Plus, 60% of shops who carried out social commerce stated they gained new prospects from completely different social networks.
Social commerce delivers the last word in comfort by permitting prospects to buy instantly from their most well-liked social media channels reasonably than having to exit to a separate purchasing cart. Take Instagram, for instance, which launched Instagram Buying final yr. The characteristic permits folks to seamlessly faucet and store merchandise, going from inspiration to info to buy in only a few steps.
Hyper personalization
Buying on-line is changing into hyper personalised as increasingly more retailers leverage massive knowledge. Whereas personalization is just not a brand new idea – on-line shops have been providing options like wishlists and product suggestions primarily based on previous purchases for years – hyper personalization takes it to the following degree.
Hyper personalization is the systematic assortment, real-time evaluation and use of an enormous vary of buyer info in context, from the machine they’re utilizing to their temper, purchasing intentions, and former model interactions. The Google Show Community’s enormous promoting community – you realize, these advertisements that appear to observe you in all places you go surfing – is simply the beginning.
Whereas hyper personalization continues to be in its infancy, some massive manufacturers are already utilizing it to their benefit. Take Spotify, for instance, which has used person knowledge to supply uniquely personalised music suggestions, and even inform stats for its advertising.
Conclusion
We at the moment are nicely into 2017 and never far off Cyber November, so when you’re interested by establishing a web based retailer, now’s the time to do it. The highest 4 eCommerce platforms talked about on this put up are vastly customizable, with a whole bunch of extensions accessible for Magento, WooCommerce, and PrestaShop in our eCommerce marketplace.
All of the traits talked about above will proceed on into 2018, so if need to develop your on-line retailer, be sure you undertake them quickly so that you’re not left taking part in catch as much as your competitors.
